You are here

Cosmic commencement: Astronaut giving UConn speech

By PAT EATON-ROBBAssociated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. — University of Connecticut alumnus Rick Mastracchio would have liked to deliver this year’s graduation address to the school of engineering in person. But he’ll be out of town May 10 — orbiting the globe on the International Space Station.

So, UConn arranged for the 54-year-old astronaut give the speech from space.

His recorded address will be shown on the video boards at Gampel Pavilion to about 5,000 people, including more than 400 graduating seniors and their families, and several members of Mastracchio’s family, including his wife.

“I remain a bit nervous,” said Kazem Kazerounian, the dean of the engineering school, who helped set up the unusual graduation speech. “We have never tried anything like this before, and I know that the world will be watching us. So, while I’m excited, I still have to have my fingers crossed.”

Mastracchio, a Waterbury native who earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer engineering from UConn in 1982, will receive an honorary doctorate.

He is wrapping up his fourth trip into space, an eight-month stint aboard the space station, and has spent more than 51 hours on space walks outside the orbiting laboratory.

He recorded the speech last weekend and beamed it back to NASA, which was converting the file to send to UConn.

This won’t be Mastracchio’s first contact with a Connecticut audience from space. Last month, he and a colleague did a live question-and-answer session from the space station with children at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

This is at least the third astronaut to give a commencement speech from space, NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. The first two both occurred at the University of North Dakota, including an address in August by astronaut Karen Nyberg. The other was a brief live “drop-in” by astronaut Mike Fincke in 2004 during a speech by NASA chief Dan Golden.

Mastracchio is scheduled to fly back to Earth aboard a Russian spacecraft on May 13.

Rules for posting comments

Comments posted below are from readers. In no way do they represent the view of Oahu Publications Inc. or this newspaper. This is a public forum.

Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content but the newspaper is under no obligation to do so. Comment posters are solely responsible under the Communications Decency Act for comments posted on this Web site. Oahu Publications Inc. is not liable for messages from third parties.

IP and email addresses of persons who post are not treated as confidential records and will be disclosed in response to valid legal process.

Do not post:

Potentially libelous statements or damaging innuendo.

Obscene, explicit, or racist language.

Copyrighted materials of any sort without the express permission of the copyright holder.

Personal attacks, insults or threats.

The use of another person's real name to disguise your identity.

Comments unrelated to the story.

If you believe that a commenter has not followed these guidelines, please click the FLAG icon below the comment.